The Federal Reserve launched a new program on Monday to provide bridge financing to midsize firms that have been hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic. … READ MORE >
Covid-19
What’s behind the resurgent housing market
With the onset of coronavirus, a wave of uncertainty overtook the housing market and brought a swift halt to home sales and home building in March and April. But trends in May and June have shown that housing may be in midst of a V-shaped recovery. … READ MORE >
May retail sales soar, but will it continue?
Retail sales soared by 17.7% in May, the biggest month-over-month increase on record, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. … READ MORE >
A not-so-great anniversary of Smoot-Hawley
This month marks the inauspicious 90th anniversary of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, perhaps the most ill-advised bill on the economy ever enacted. … READ MORE >
Modeling the spread of coronavirus: The prospect, and the cost, of a second wave
There are now more new cases of COVID-19 infections in the South and Southwest and other less densely populated areas of the country than in the previously hard-hit metropolitan centers of the East Coast, Chicago and Los Angeles. … READ MORE >
Jobless claims, state by state: Even with overall drop, nine states have big increases
Despite the overall drop in initial jobless claims in the latest week to 1.5 million, there were still nine states that reported significant increases in first-time applications for unemployment benefits. … READ MORE >
Weekly initial jobless claims: More questions than answers
First-time jobless claims increased by 1.542 million for the week ending June 6, the Labor Department reported Thursday. Over the past 12 weeks, 44.1 million people have filed for unemployment insurance, which is roughly equal to 27.9% of the 158 million pre-pandemic labor force. … READ MORE >
FOMC policy update: Fed signals that the worst is behind the U.S.
Policymakers at the Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled that the worst of the pandemic-induced recession has passed as its summary of economic projections and “dot plot” rate forecast both implied that the zero interest rate policy will remain in place until the end of 2022. … READ MORE >
Video gaming and esports, already growing in the U.S., see major lift during pandemic
A rise in video gaming since pandemic shelter-in-place orders went into effect could be the wave the esports industry has been looking for to become a more widespread trend in the United States. Until more recently, the growing popularity of esports had been most dramatic in Asian countries. The trend … … READ MORE >
Federal Reserve expands scope of Main Street Lending Program
With the Main Street Lending Program likely to be launched in the coming days, the Federal Reserve has once again announced updates that expand the scope of the program. … READ MORE >